GlossaryBy Sverre MoeUpdated 2026-07-21
What is Breadth?
What is Breadth?
Breadth is one of Stance's four subscores, worth 30% of the total, and it answers a narrower question than the index charts do: how many stocks are actually participating in the move, not just where the S&P 500 or Nasdaq closed. A market where three names carry the index while the other few thousand lag is a materially weaker tape than the headline return alone would suggest.
It is built from eight signals: the share of the eligible universe above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages (20% each), a distribution-day count (15%), net new highs minus lows (10%), the McClellan Oscillator (10%), the up/down volume ratio (5%), a follow-through-day flag (15%), and the advance/decline ratio (5%). Trend and Breadth are tied for the heaviest weight in Stance for the same reason: index direction and participation breadth are the two most durable readings on the health of a regime.
How tickerstance reads breadth today
Breadth is published daily on /stance/breadth as its own 0-100 score, alongside /data, which breaks the underlying tiles out individually: percent above the 40/50/200-day averages, the advance/decline line, McClellan, distribution days, and more.
As of the July 20, 2026 close, Breadth read 40.1, in the same Weak-to-Caution range as the rest of that day's tape (Stance 32.4). The /data page's participation cluster reported just 1 of 6 breadth readings constructive that session, with 60% of the eligible universe still above its 50-day average even as shorter-term thrust measures like McClellan (-29) had turned negative.
Related
- Advance/Decline Line
The A/D line, A/D ratio, and McClellan as three views of the same advance/decline data.
- McClellan Oscillator
The breadth-momentum signal worth 10% of Breadth's composite.
- Stance
How Breadth composes into the headline score.
- Breadth board
Today's Breadth score and its full signal breakdown.